ProfYin-Zhe Ma
Professor
Physics
OVERVIEW
We focus on connecting fundamental physics with astronomical observations to understand the fundamental laws of the Universe, and to unravel the nature of dark matter and dark energy. In particular, our active research directions include the epoch of reionization, extragalactic astronomy, the early Universe, dark matter indirect detection, neutron stars and black holes. We heavily involve in South Africa’s MeerKAT, Square Kilometre Array (SKA), Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) telescopes, LSST (Vera C. Rubin Observatory), FAST telescope and CMB Stage-4, and also use data from Atacama Cosmology Telescope, South Pole Telescope, ESO’s Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS), and Dark Energy Survey Instrument (DESI).
STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY GROUPS MEMBERSHIP
MEDIA
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
- CITA National FellowUniversity of British Columbia, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vancouver, Canada2011 - 2014
- Research AssociateUniversity of Manchester, Jodrell Bank Center for Astrophysics, Manchester, United Kingdom2014 - 2015
- Senior LecturerUniversity of KwaZulu-Natal, School of Chemistry and Physics, Durban, South Africa2015 - 2017
- Associate ProfessorUniversity of KwaZulu-Natal, School of Chemistry and Physics, Durban, South Africa2018 - 2021
- Full ProfessorUniversity of KwaZulu-Natal, School of Chemistry and Physics, Durban, South Africa2021 - 2023
- Full Professor & (Founding) Head of Astrophysics DivisionStellenbosch University, Department of Physics, Stellenbosch, South Africa2023
- Stellenbosch-Groningen Research Chair on Computational AstronomyStellenbosch University, Department of Physics, Stellenbosch, South Africa2025
- South Africa Research Chair (SARChI) on Computational AstronomyStellenbosch University, Physics, Stellenbosch, South Africa1 Sep 2026
DEGREES
- Ph.D, AstronomyUniversity of Cambridge, United Kingdom2008 - 2011
LANGUAGES
- EnglishCan read, write, speak, understand and peer review
- Chinese (Mandarin)Can read, write, speak, understand and peer review